


Checkmate

by bagelistrying



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Adora is still with the Horde, Canon Lesbian Relationship, Catra is still with the Horde, Chaos, Emotional Hurt, Execution, F/F, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Lesbians, Minor Adora/Catra (She-Ra), More tags to be added, Poor Catra (She-Ra), Princess Alliance hasn’t formed yet, Robots, Short Chapters, Side Story
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-22
Updated: 2020-09-25
Packaged: 2021-03-07 16:07:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,650
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26600359
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bagelistrying/pseuds/bagelistrying
Summary: During a battle in the whispering woods, Netossa vanishes into thin air. In a panic to find her again, Spinnerella is captured by the horde.
Relationships: Netossa/Spinnerella (She-Ra)
Kudos: 26





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! I’m still obsessed with She Ra, so have a fluffy fic with my favorite lesbian background characters :)

There were more bots. Spinnerella sent a gust of wind in its direction, wincing as another blast of light shot past her shoulder, tossing up the hair next to her ear. She just barely dodged, looking up at the bot towering over her. It raised a mechanical, steel plated leg, hovering over her as it charged another beam. There was no time to escape. 

Holding her breath, Spinnerella shut her eyes tight. Nothing. She could still see the bright green light from behind her eyelids, but there was no impact. She carefully looked back up from the ground.  


A spiderweb of blue twine had bound back the bot, pinning it to the ground as it writhed in place, trying to break free. Spinnerella got to her feet, smiling. On top of the bot stood a tall figure in a silver chest plate over a fluffy white blouse and blue leggings, one hand on her hip. “Five.” Netossa grinned.

Spinnerella brushed herself off. “What, do I lose a point for almost dying?” 

“I’ll go easy on you and say no.” Netossa hopped down from the bot, landing beside her. “But you better get going unless you‘re ready to take another loss.” She nodded a tuft of cotton candy hair our of her face. “I’ll meet with you after we’re done here.” 

More bots had been climbing out of the woods for almost three hours. The Horde was attacking relentlessly, not a moment of peace between another wave of soldiers. Worst of all, she was still four bots behind Netossa. 

“Thirty three!” Spinnerella yelled over the chaos, ready for her wife’s next boast about upstaging her. Another bot tumbled off the path at her hand, slamming into a tree and the light blinking as it powered down. “Scratch that, make it thirty four!” There was no response. “Darling?”  


With a burst of energy, she threw a couple more bots away from her, ducking under a tree branch to the clearing where she had just seen Netossa.  _Maybe she went further?_ A knot was forming in her stomach as she kept searching. The clanking and whirring of the bots had faded to behind her, but she kept her guard up anyway.  


She was sure there were more lines of defense to cover her, Princess Glimmer herself had probably escaped to go fight, but right now she just needed to find Netossa. 

As more creatures scattered across the path behind her, the woods fell surprisingly silent. She didn’t like seeing it like this. There were scars in the trees and burn marks in the harlequin leaves, but no sign of the bots... or Netossa. She took another step forward, shifting a branch out of her way. 

She was in a clearing she hadn’t seen before. Several bots were wriggling under electric blue nets, and the path deeper into the woods had been cleared of any low hanging branches or twigs- like something giant had crashed through it and vanished. In the center of all the nets was some glittering object.  


Stepping carefully past the bots, she picked it up. It was hollow and cylindrical, silver with a blue plate across the top. She swallowed, glancing back up at the nets. It was a vambrace. But more importantly, it was her wife’s.

“Netossa...?” With her words, the nets around her suddenly dissolved, the magic sinking into the ground. The closest bot leapt back onto its feet, the pilot light blinking to life and mechanisms whirring as it found its target. She tried to duck below it, but only to stumble directly into another bot. She made it back to the center of the clearing, with just enough time to pick up the vambrace before another beam shot past her, fizzling out on the grass.

But there were more. Not strong enough to dash back past them, the only thing Spinerella could do was watch the bots close in on her. Then she blacked out.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Spinnerella wakes up in the Fright Zone, met by one of the least helpful Horde officers she's ever heard.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm having a lot of fun with this piece so far :)

There was something cold beneath Spinnerella, the soft humming of air vents in her ear. _Am I dead?_ No, that wasn’t right. She was lying down on metal somewhere too dark to see. She tried to sit up, but lost her balance when she tried to move her hand past her side, rope digging into her tightly bound wrists. As she found a wall to lean against, she suddenly remembered. Netossa was gone. Silencing an urge to call out her name, she tried to sort out what happened in her mind. They had been fighting together, she had said to split up, the bots attacked deeper in the forest, and Netossa had disappeared. 

Guilt stung in her throat. Thinking through it again, it was her fault. They should have stayed together. Now, they were both in some unknown location, and Bright Moon had lost two defenders. Her eyes were adjusting to the darkness, but the room she was in seemed empty. There had to be a way out of this, but-

What if she wasn’t strong enough? What if there wasn’t enough time? What if... what if she was too late? Her thoughts were interrupted by a sudden flicker of green light, the lime glow seeping in from beneath the metal plating. 

The room was smaller than she imagined it, a single doorway blocked by a heavy door that slowly slid open. Squinting in the brightness, she tried to focus on the figure in the doorway. 

It was shorter than she was, a spiked helmet framing a thin face and pinning back messy brown hair. One yellow and one blue eye glinted at her from the shadows, skin visible from beneath tears crimson leggings. Then it hit her. Red uniforms, green lights, and everything made of metal? She almost choked on her breath. She was in the Fright Zone.

The girl in the doorway leaned against one of the beams, speaking to her in an incredibly bored, flat tone. 

“We have been informed that you have been siding with the Rebellion, despite frequent warnings. Interrogation and potential execution will proceed when Lord Hordak returfrmidoncarem…” The officer mumbled the rest of the sentence, scratching her head before shoving herself off the door frame. “Bye.” 

She nodded farewell to the mildly confused guard, then the door slammed behind her. As the footsteps faded, Spinnerella could hear her continue to talk to some else down the hall.

“Ew. Why am I the one to have to talk to the princesses?”

“That one didn’t even talk to you. Great speech, by the way. Truly motivating.”

“I didn’t capture her, why should I care?”

The other laughed. “C’mon, Catra, quick. Maybe you got assigned the job, but I’m not supposed to be here. We need to get back to training.”

The footsteps quickened, and the little light around her sank back into the floor, leaving her in the darkness again with only her thoughts. 

She tried to understand what the officer had said, repeating the phrases in her mind. Interrogations - those were going to be fine. She prided herself on not cracking under pressure, and could lie on the spot pretty well. But the next thing the officer had said… a potential execution? She couldn’t lie her way out of that. Stubbornness would only increase the chance of it, and there was no way anyone else would come and save her. In the heart of the Fright Zone, everyone was an enemy. She was alone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> just thought I'd chuck Catra being useless in there i doubt she'll come up again tho


	3. Chapter 3

“I’m not telling you anything. The Horde has taken everything from me, and I’m not going to give up the fight until I die.” Spinnerella immediately regretted it. The officers had been looking for an excuse to execute her for days now, and she wasn’t in the place to be taunting them.

The guard at the door looked over at the officer, who stood up from the table. “Your words, not mine.” Biting her tongue as she was escorted back to the prison, Spinnerella watched her dark reflection on the metal. It hadn’t quite settled in what she had done yet, but she knew in a minute that it would finally hit her. As she sank into the corner of the chamber, hugging her knees, she thought of Netossa. Not like that was anything new, her head spun with worry at the idea of her wife as trapped as she was. 

Even if she escaped the execution by some miracle, she would be lost. The road back home was just as treacherous, and there would be nobody to guide her. Every step she took would remind her that returning to Bright Moon would mean having to explain to everyone that she had left Netossa behind, and that… it was her fault, entirely. The relief of seeing all their faces marred with pity, the soft gazes as they tried to find the right words of comfort for a woman who had lost her wife, but who couldn’t even feel sorry for herself. 

All the things she could have done to fix it played on repeat in her mind, fabricated calls of ‘No, I’ll go with you!’ that could have saved them both. The guilt in her stomach growing heavier, she finally managed to fall back asleep.

Spinnerella wasn’t even fully awake as she was dragged out the door, rough grips on her arms shoving her down the hallway and into the vehicle bay, ropes even tighter around her wrists. Her neck ached from sleeping shriveled against the wall of the cell, and her heart pounded as she was guided to the back of a tank. 

Where were they going to take her? Didn’t these monsters want the satisfaction of killing her in front of everyone? The engine of the tank started up, the floor shaking as she sat down on the floor again. There were no windows anywhere, not even the slightest gap into the outside world. Of course not. She didn’t even feel like she belonged there anymore. It was a different place now, death so close ahead of her. 

Maybe Bright Moon wouldn’t notice that she was gone. Surely… they had plenty of other fighters, and nobody would remember if they lost one.  _ What if…? _ She tried to stop herself thinking it, knowing that it would hurt her to acknowledge.  _...if Netossa, wherever she is, forgets me too?  _ It was too late. But maybe it was right. That would be nice, wouldn’t it? 

Netossa wouldn’t have to worry or feel the same terrifying stress that Spinnerella desperately tried to silence. The images of her own death had repeated so many times in the back of her head that she could have sworn they already happened. The slice of a knife, perhaps a jolt of green light, indescribable pain, or perfect bliss. 

The tank had stopped. Someone got out of the front of the vehicle, their footsteps muffled as they walked around the side. 

The back door slid open, revealing crooked trees, twisted and packed together under a canopy of emerald leaves. Colorful fungi glowed from between the intertwined roots, wrapped with fallen vines. Overhanging ferns tangled with moss brushed against the top of the tank. 

Why had they taken her to the Whispering Woods? If she had gathered anything from the interrogations, it was that the soldiers feared nothing more than the woods. But she saw what they meant now.  With acceptance looming ahead of her, the colors were deceiving, more a warning than a decoration. 

It was haunting.

The guard stepped up into the back chamber of the tank and reached out their hand to grab her shoulder, but stopped. 

They let her stand up first, holding her elbow as she stepped down from the back door. There it was. The pity she had been waiting for, the touch of hesitation that reminded that there was a person behind the helmet. In any other situation, she may have smiled at the guard, but there was no room for that, it was too numb.

She silently followed the guard to a clearing, who gestured for her to kneel. She did so, watching over her shoulder as they vanished behind the tank again, returning momentarily and standing in front of her. 

Their right hand was wrapped around the wooden handle of a battle axe, the rounded blade dusty and worn. 

They could kill her. But that wasn’t what they wanted. They wanted the revolution gone, the last sparks stomped out, the ones with little voice silenced forever. She wouldn’t let that happen.

“Don’t think this is the end.” She stared up at the guard, who didn’t react. She only wished she could see the expression behind the face plate. “You can think you’ve won, but…” She let her head hang, the glint of the axe in the corner of her eye.

“The revolution will never die.”

“You’re damn right it won’t.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for the cliffhanger i'm almost done with the next chapter


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome to the last chapter! I had a great time with this work, and I hope you liked it too. This is just a short piece to sum it all up, so enjoy!

The guard had planted the axe in the ground, leaning on the handle with one elbow.

Spinnerella searched for some- any response. “I- What...?” The voice had shocked her so much, she hadn’t even registered what the words were.

“Why don’t we get out of here.” The guard lifted her helmet, tossing puff of blue, cotton candy hair up with it.

“You...you came back!” Spinnerella stuttered, a smile breaking across her face. 

“Don’t give me so much credit.” Netossa replied, untying the ropes. “I got captured too, all I had to do was break out of the cell, steal a tank, and… okay, yeah, you can give me credit.” Kissing her on the cheek, Netossa held open the door to the front of the tank and climbed into the driver’s seat.

“Do you know how to drive this thing?” Spinnerella asked from the passenger seat, voice still shaking. 

“Nope.” Wrestling with the dashboard, Netossa finally started the engine, navigating her way back through the woods. 

“Netossa… I’m sorry for leaving you behind.” Spinnerella was picking at her nails. She was so relieved to see her wife again, but she still couldn’t forgive herself at all for what she’d done. “And… for almost getting executed.” An apologetic laugh found its way to her lips. “I was a coward, and really worried about you, and-”

“Darling.” She stopped. Netossa was still staring straight ahead, watching the woods fly by. “You stood up to a Horde soldier with an axe. And don’t think I didn’t hear the other conversations with officers while I was looking for your cell.” One of Netossa’s hands left the steering wheel, fingers interlacing with Spinnerella’s. “Trust me, you’ve got no reason to call yourself a coward.”

The trees ahead slowly thinned out, leaves revealing the spires of Bright Moon’s castle. The tank lurched to a stop, birds fluttering away from the branches around them. 

Something in the bushes suddenly moved, and the two watched as a new figure emerged from the shadows, a rounded helmet glittering as it stepped into the sunlight. It was a Bright Moon guard. 

“I forgot we’re in a Horde tank. That may have seemed suspicious.” More soldiers appeared, forming a ring around the front of the tank 

Glimmer ran up behind the soldiers, stopping as the two climbed out of the tank, her cape falling down onto her back. “Spinnerella and Netossa?”

“You got it.”

“You guys are back! We were so worried, oh my god!” She ran forward, waving at the soldiers to back off. “How did you get here? Netossa, why are you in Horde armor?”

“Uh…”

“Long story.”

Glimmer ran up and admired the front of the tank, scratching at the Horde logo in red paint on the front. “Great! I’ve got all day.”

Netossa replied, taking off her heavy gloves. “We don’t, though.”

“What?” Spinnerella and Glimmer both glanced at Netossa, who was retrieving the helmet from the front seat of the tank.

She grinned. “Spinnerella has still got four bots to destroy if she wants to win.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There you go! I know everyone saw the plot twist coming, but that's something that's been getting harder for me recently. I feel like really shocking plot twists tend to come out of nowhere and are difficult to handle, especially without chapters and chapters of setup. Same thing with Spinerella's resolution; I would have loved to give her a full arc and a ton of tension with Netossa beforehand, but it felt too convoluted. I just wanted this piece to have some structure, and I had to sacrifice most of the surprise for foreshadowing and basic intro. Or maybe i just forgot how to write plot twists idk

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Hopefully I’ll get the next chapter out soon


End file.
